Grouping Techniques and Cooperative Learning Strategies
Students that work in groups learn through discussion, making ideas clear and the value of other's ideas. Learning teams help students attain a higher level of thinking and retain information for a longer period of time than if students worked individually. 1. Focused Listing Cooperative Learning Strategy A brainstorming activity that is designed for students to generate words to define or describe something. For example, students would be given a main topic, then ask them to create a list of phrases or words that describes the main topic. Then students are put into small groups to discuss their lists or you can first put them into groups to generate the lists. If the focused listing is being used as a introduction to your lesson, then you can choose one list that all students agree upon.. 2.One-Minute Papers This strategy can be used to gather feedback from students after a lesson. Write the following questions on the white board and have all students independently answer them. · What is the most important thing you learned from the lesson? · What is still unclear about the lesson? What questions do you still have? · What is one thing about the topic that you want to know more about? After the students are finished put them together into groups to facilitate a discussion. Students will take turns discussing each of their answers to the questions on board. After all students have discussed their answers have students figure out which answers they have in common. They can take this information to see which one is the most popular answer to each question. Then they discuss with the whole class. ' 3. Cooperative Graffiti' This strategy requires students to think about a topic and write down as many ideas as possible using different-colored pens. Students are divided into small groups with a butcher block piece of paper and various colored pens. They will write down as many ideas as they can that correlate with topic written on whiteboard. They have 5-10 minutes to brainstorm and write down their ideas then students will organize their ideas they wrote using the colored pens into categories. There are several techniques to consider for group learning: 1. Establish clear group goals This keeps the group on task and defines a purpose. 2. Keep groups midsized A group size of 4-5 is recommended so that all group members get a chance to participate and a decent amount of ideas will be generated. 3. Establish flexible group norms Collaborative learning is influenced by the quality of interactions. Interactivity and negotiation as the group works together. 4. Build trust and promote open communication Assignments should encourage students to explain concepts thoroughly to each other. 5. For larger tasks, create group roles This is very useful during science experiments. A student may be assigned the role of group leader, recorder, reporter, and fast checker. The students might have turns choosing their own roles and alternating roles by sections of the assignment or classes. 5. Consider using different strategies, like the Jigsaw technique. The jigsaw strategy improves social interactions in learning and supports diversity. An assignment is separated into subtasks where students research their assigned area. Students with the same topic from different groups might meet together and discuss their ideas. This collaboration allows students to become experts in their assigned topic. These students then return to their assigned group to educate them. 6. Focus on enhancing problem-solving and critical thinking skills Design assignments that focus on solving an authentic problem. Different types of problems might focus on categorizing, planning, taking multiple perspectives, or forming solutions. Try to use a step-by step procedure for problem-solving like the example below: # Identify the objective # Define the goals # Gather data # Evaluate date and decide on options to meet objective and goals # Reach decision # Implement decision By: Janet _______________________________________________________________________________________ References: Clifford, M. (2018). Teach thought. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/20-collaborative-learning-tips-and-strategies/ Cox, J. (n.d.). Teach Hub. Retrieved from http://www.teachhub.com/5-cooperative-learning-strategies-try-today